Getting the Flu Shot

I had called our family doctor on Monday to ask which flu shot we should get considering our health issues and he said to get the seasonal one, so Arend and I went to the Royal Canadian Legion at 11:15 Tuesday morning to get them. (The seasonal shots were being given starting at 11 AM, the H1N1 shots were to start at 1 PM.)

Even though it is just across the street, we drove because we were going to run some errands afterwards. I pulled into a handicapped parking spot by the back door of the Legion and Arend started to get out. The "guard" at the door told him to just stay in the car and he would call us when it got closer to the time for us to go in thus avoiding having to stand for a long time. (There was a line of about 40 people waiting to go in. What we didn't know was that there were probably another 40 already inside.)

We took his advice and waited in the car watching as he let four people at a time go inside. However, he forgot where our place in line was supposed to be and when people who arrived after we did started going in, I got out of the car. He immediately realized that he had made a mistake, but he still put us at the end of the line which meant we continued to wait. Finally we got to go in and that is when we saw that we were only halfway through the process. By the time we finally got to the "injection seats" we had been there for two hours. Then, when the nurse saw my birth date, she told me I couldn't have the seasonal shot because I was too young! Two hours of waiting for nothing.

However, since by then it was after 1 PM I thought I would try to go through the line for the H1N1 shot. I asked the man who was "running the show" if I could get back in line for the H1N1 shot and he said, "Of course!" So I did. Ten minutes later I was done and sitting waiting for my 15 minutes to be up. (No two-hour wait for H1N1.) By the time we got home, we had been gone almost three hours (and we never did get those errands run!)

While we were waiting after the shots, we were talking to some friends who were also waiting. They had gotten both shots because the health nurse recommended it since they are with their grandchildren a lot (ages, 2, 3, and 4). That made me glad I had gotten the H1N1 shot. The nurse had told them that they have lots of the H1N1 vaccine, but not a lot of the seasonal one.

Later on that afternoon, Arend was reading his e-mail and saw that the College staff and students have a clinic on Thursday, so he is going to go to that and get the H1N1 shot so he can play with the little ones, too! LOL Granddaddy got his seasonal shot the last time he was at Dr. Garcia's.

If you are wondering which shot to get, or even if you should get one at all, I hope all of you will decide to get the H1N1 shot.

Till next time,
Willa Dale

Introducing Nathan Meeks Grayson Smid

Grandson #2 - Nathan Meeks Grayson Smid, son of John and Nadia - arrived via C-section on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 8:33 A.M. weighing in at 8 pounds 13 ounces. Everyone is doing well.



Opa, Granddaddy and Oma arrived when he was only three hours old and got to hold him right away. Do you have any idea how exciting that was for Granddaddy? He never got to hold any of his grandsons when they were that young and he didn't see Noah till Noah was about six weeks old. Holding Nathan was a real treat for him!

Nathan is a beautiful little boy. What surprised me was that when we first saw him he looked a lot like Noah, but by the time we left seven hours later, his facial features had changed and he just looked like Nathan.

Watching Noah's reaction to his baby brother was fun, too. He came into Nadia's hospital room (with his daddy and his nanny, Fey) to find not only his mommy and baby brother, but also Granddaddy, and Opa and Oma. It was a bit overwhelming for him. At first he was content to sit with Mommy and didn't want much to do with Nathan, but eventually we could get pictures of the family of four. Fey was a great help in getting Noah comfortable with Nathan.

Almost immediately after he got there Uncle Will and Aunt Angela arrived, so it was a full house. After holding Nathan for a few minutes, Will and Angela, Arend, Granddaddy and I took Noah to the playroom just down the hall and that gave John and Nadia a little breathing space.

















Hopefully it won't be long till we see him again and have MORE pictures to show.

Till then...have a great day!

Willa Dale

Living in a Small Town - Part 1

We live in a small rural town with a population of 3,300 give or take a few. When we moved here from Brandon, Manitoba we were told by friends in Brandon that we would enjoy living in a small town because the people are so friendly. In fact, Ridgetown is called the "Friendliest Town in Ontario". Never having lived in such a small place before, I had my doubts. Now we have lived in Ridgetown for 33 years and almost every day I am reminded of what we were told so long ago.

There is a saying that goes something like this - one advantage of living in a small town is that if you don't know what you are doing, someone else does. That became very apparent to us when my dad moved here a year ago. He immediately got involved with Rotary International in which he had been very active in Pennsylvania and in Georgia before that. He also started going to church in town. It didn't take long till people were approaching me in the grocery store or even on the street and talking to me about what an amazing man he is (they're right!). These are people that I wouldn't have expected to know who I am. I have never been very active in things in Ridgetown because our children went to school in Chatham (22 miles/35 km from here), we go to church in Chatham and I taught in Chatham. Arend, on the other hand, is well-known in Ridgetown since he grew up here and has worked at the College here for thirty-three years (and counting).

Now we are in the process of having our 120-year-old home painted. I am amazed at the number of people who know that we are having it painted and know who is doing it. Because we live on the main street of town, many people drive or walk past our home every day and they seem to be closely following the progress. Hopefully the painter will get some more jobs out of this one; it seems that every time he comes down off of the scaffolding, someone walking past the house stops to talk to him. He is doing a fantastic job and we are very happy with him. He's even taking the storm windows off, cleaning them and painting the part between the interior and exterior windows! Wow!

Till next time,
Willa Dale

Before

















With primer coat

Update on Granddaddy

Things have been a little quieter around here the last few weeks for which we are very thankful. Arend and I took Granddaddy to Port Huron Hospital on Wednesday (June 25) for a colonoscopy which had been ordered by Dr. Brooks, Granddaddy's infectious disease doctor, to rule out any more serious illnesses connected with the C. diff. diagnosis.

He was scheduled for ten o'clock in the morning, but we were told to be at the hospital by 9:30. That meant that we needed to leave Ridgetown by seven - pretty early for those of us who are not morning people! The drive to the hospital takes 90 minutes plus whatever the waiting time may be at the border; that's why we left so early. And wouldn't you know...we got through at the border in about seven minutes! Figures! That put us at the hospital at just after nine. By the time we parked and got up to Outpatient Surgery it was 9:20. We were given a number and told to take a seat. In just a couple of minutes (honestly, it was no longer than that!) they called us in to get Granddaddy ready for his surgery. Apparently the person who was ahead of him on the surgery schedule was going to have two surgeons, so they bumped Granddaddy up since his procedure would only take about 20 minutes.

We went back with him and helped him get changed into his "Christian Dior" gown. Then the nurse told us that they were ready to take him into surgery and we should go back to the waiting room until they called us when he was done. So we did as we were told. We had time to read only one section of the London Free Press newspaper before they called us to go back to the recovery room! Granddaddy was not back yet, but Dr. Akhtar came in to talk to us and said that all he had seen was diverticulosis plus a little inflammation left over from the C. diff. Whew! What a relief!

Granddaddy was back to "recovery" by 9:50 - before he was even scheduled to go in! It took a little while for him to wake up, but an hour later we were ready to leave the hospital. We crossed the border (another short time) and then I asked Granddaddy what he wanted to do about eating. He hadn't had anything but clear liquids since Monday night, so he was ready to eat. We ate lunch at Montana's then drove home. I stayed with him part of the afternoon just to make sure he was okay, but he did just great.

Now, five days later, he is still doing very well. Eats like a teen-age boy and is always looking for more! All of us are back on our "pre-Granddaddy's illnesses" schedule and are taking each day as it comes. We feel truly blessed that everything has gone well and that Granddaddy seems to be completely better.

Till next time, have a great day!

Arend's visit to Dr. MacDonald

We have just returned home from Arend's appointment with the tumour specialist. For those of you who see us on a regular basis, you know how Arend's health has seemingly deteriorated over the past year and that we were becoming quite concerned.

When he had his MRI done in 2007 there was no indication that the tumour had returned, so Dr. MacDonald told him that he could go for two years before he had his next MRI. However, when the appointment was received, it was for this year rather than 2009. As the year progressed, we began to think that what at first appeared to be an error was instead Divine intervention. By having an MRI done in May 2008 we could see what was going on and deal with it. We were tested yet again when Arend went for the MRI and the technician told him that they were going to image more of his spine than usual. The immediate question was WHY?, then "did they see something at the beginning of the MRI that made the doctor order a more in-depth image?"

The three-week wait between the MRI and today was interminable in many respects, filled with anxiety, worry, a feeling of helplessness and an all-encompassing knowledge that whatever was there the Lord would see us through it. This became even more apparent in the last 72 hours when I felt the Lord's peace over me. It was such a relief to have the Lord carry me and my burden! What a blessing it is to have our faith to see us through the rough times as well as the easy ones! Still, both of us entered the hospital this afternoon wondering what we would hear and how our lives could be changing.

Arend was first seen by a resident, Dr. Cheung, who was very thorough in her examination and also very kind and understanding. Her first words to us were "The MRI shows no indication that the tumour has returned!" She could tell by our faces that we had expected totally different news. She then proceeded to talk to us about the changes that Arend has noticed in the last year. He has begun walking with a cane because he is no longer able to stand up straight. His body bends dramatically forward and to the right. To quote Matthew - "If Dad hunches over any more he'll be a circle!" Well, maybe it isn't that bad, but it is worrisome to look at him. Dr. Cheung did a lot of tests on him especially having him walk with and without his (very heavy) shoes.

Later Dr. MacDonald came in to see us. He and Dr. Cheung had discussed Arend's case and Dr. MacDonald also happily reported that the MRI looked good. He repeated some of the same tests that Dr. Cheung had done and decided that it would be a good idea for Arend to see the rehabilitation doctor that he had seen initially after his surgery in 2004. Dr. MacDonald is thinking that Arend might need some sort of a brace to give his back more support. He said "Hopefully he (Dr. Sequeira) can get you straightened out." We found that rather amusing.

When the doctors MacDonald and Cheung were finished talking to us and left to see other patients, we sat there and cried together. It has been a very emotional year for us as we watched Arend have more and more difficulty standing up and we are so thankful that it has turned out so well. It would have been nice to have had the appointment before Will's graduation, though. Our concern for Arend admittedly took away from the joy of that day for all of us.

Till next time.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!

May 14, 2008

Sorry to be so far behind on updating the blog. When Daddy is in the hospital, things just don't run smoothly around here at all.

As expected, Daddy wasn't released on Sunday either; but on Monday when we arrived at the hospital, he was convinced that he was being released that day. However, a check with the nurse quickly quashed that hope. On Sunday they put a portable 24-hour heart monitor on him and they needed to get the readings from it before he could be released. So he resigned himself to the fact that it would be Tuesday at the earliest for him to go home.

Sure enough, the nurse called fairly early Tuesday morning to tell us that Dr. John had discharged him. It wasn't much later that Daddy himself called to say he could go home. By the time we got there he was dressed and sitting in a chair reading, waiting patiently for us to arrive. Before we even got out of the hospital he was asking where we were going to eat. Honestly, he really IS like a teenage boy - always hungry! I guess if you don't eat for three and a half weeks, once you finally feel better, you have to make up for lost time. We took him to Smitty's - a local family restaurant - where he ate an omelette and TWO pancakes. See what I mean???

Halfway home we discovered that his IV port had not been removed. Some nurse certainly wasn't paying very good attention. I started calling Dr. John's office on the way home, but could never get through. Finally this morning I connected with them and we had to take Daddy to the office to have the port removed. I don't think Dr. John was very happy with the nursing staff at the hospital!

Last night I spent the night at Daddy's; tonight (Wednesday) Arend is there. I am a bit apprehensive about leaving him home alone after what happened last week. He doesn't want to be at our house, so that means we are taking turns staying with him 24/7 at his house. From past experience we know how tiring that can be for both of us, so I think we will try to wean him (and ourselves) off of that soon (read "once I get over my anxiety about leaving him by himself"). We know that the time will probably come when we will have to move him into our home - to maintain everyone's sanity.

Today Daddy has been very good. He is able to walk with the standard walker better than yesterday, so that is progress. He is also able to get up from the sofa without help (most of the time) which is great. Hopefully he will continue to improve and soon be back to where he was a week ago.

Daddy had a nice little chat with Noah on the phone tonight which brightened his day immensely. Noah loves to talk on the phone and we love talking to him, too. We have a new appreciation for how much my parents enjoyed talking to our boys when they were growing up. I wish I could figure out how to turn one of Noah's messages to us into our Call Answer message. It is SO cute!

The frustrating thing about all of this is that we still don't know what is wrong with him. Arend and I both think that this episode was a repeat of what happened on February 14th, but that isn't much help since the doctors weren't able to determine what caused that seizure either.

And so we continue somewhat in the dark, but we know that our Father in Heaven has the answer and in His own time He will reveal it to us and to the doctors. The "fixer" part of me hopes that won't take too long!

Till next time,
Willa Dale

Round Three - Part Two

May 10, 2008

Charles arrived in Ridgetown Friday night about 11 o'clock. He decided to avoid the rush hour traffic by leaving later in the evening. I think that was a smart move, but it worried us a bit that he was so late arriving. He and Arend went to Daddy's fairly soon after Charles arrived to work on Daddy's computer. While he isn't really interested in using the Internet, he still would like to use his computer to write letters since he receives so many from friends in Pennsylvania. It's all fixed now so he will have something to "play with" when he comes home from the hospital.

Yes, you read that correctly. He isn't home yet. He was disappointed when we arrived there just after noon today because it had become clear that he wasn't going home at least till tomorrow. We are guessing that it will probably be Monday at the earliest since tests aren't usually done in hospitals on the weekends. The doctor told him this morning that they don't know what is wrong with him, but they are going to find out. Right now it appears that they are testing him for diabetes since they keep checking his blood sugar. We really don't know anything about blood sugar numbers but his have ranged between 6.1 and 8.6 over the last 24 hours. He is on an IV to help re-hydrate his body and is being encouraged to drink a lot more than he has been drinking. Having a Tim Hortons in the hospital makes it a bit easier to get him to drink more because he likes Tim's decaf coffee.

He was very happy to visit with Charles whom he hadn't seen since Easter. The four of us talked for nearly five hours straight. From that you can tell that he is feeling pretty good which makes it even more frustrating that he is still in the hospital. We are hoping that they will find an answer before long.

We appreciated having Charles here for it gave us an opportunity to discuss what we need to do to continue to care for Daddy once he is released from the hospital again. We bounced a lot of ideas around and have come to some good conclusions that we think will work out well for all concerned.

What a blessing it is to be able to talk to your children as adults! Our sons have been very helpful in talking with us about what is going on with their granddaddy and how all of us are coping with it. When your children are little, you don't think about the fact that they will (all too quickly) be adults and be able to talk to you on equal terms. And then, suddenly, there you are with four adult sons who love and care for you and for each other and have a mature view of the world. Wow! My mother was right!

Our thankfulness to the Lord continues unbounded. He has watched over Daddy and over the health care professionals who are working with him. We are confident that He will continue to hold us in His hands and give us the strength we need to cope with what He has given us.

We thank all of you for your support, too. It is wonderful to enjoy the communion of saints!

Till next time,
Willa Dale